Friday, December 21, 2012

....stole the show. He kept yelling as they hustled him out; it was almost a three-minute interruption on all the major news networks. There was also a second protester, but I missed that one.

(You can click to enlarge.)

For the record (everyone thinks I am this major peacenik), I am undecided about gun control and what laws are necessary. I am willing to listen to extended discussion on the issue. I do not trust the National Rifle Association, since I distrust all lobbyists on the multi-million-dollar level due to THESE KINDS of shenanigans. I also distrust them due to their distinct right-wing bias, evident since their founding. Thus, I TOTALLY APPROVE of this YIPPIE action!

7
comments:

I, too, am undecided about what to do about gun control. I own one, my ex-h owned them, my fiance' owns them and has hunted since he was boy. Guns aren't that big a deal to me/us, you know? On the other hand something has to be done to prevent tragedies and mass shootings.

I'm curious about your opinion of where the line of constitutional permissibility is? That's a separate issue from necessary or effective.

I don't trust professional gun control lobbyists in part because the are almost entirely funded by a very small handful of very rich people--mostly the Joyce Foundation and Bloomberg. The civilian gun industry isn't as big as people think--Civilian sales was a little less than the single (now closed) GM plant in Dayton, Ohio where I used to work.

Sevesteen, have not decided that either. As I said, willing to listen to the arguments. So far, I hear very pallid, biased ones, i.e. the reruns of Robert Bork currently being broadcast on C-Span 2. (PS: I am VERY GLAD he was never on the SCOTUS. He easily sees the politicization of the more liberal justices, but not his own.)

At least you have the sense to admit not knowing. I'm seeing way too many "OMG school shooting, we need to ban concealed carry and machine guns!!!" posts, when of course concealed carry and machine guns had nothing to do with it.

I didn't see the press conference, but I've read the transcript of LaPierre's speech, and I'm not impressed--essentially a TSA for schools, with the NRA in charge of training. More lives can be saved much cheaper in other ways, without creating more authority figures.

(And Website Templates comment is spam, using your blog to promote his site--note that the only relevant content is where he cut and pasted the title of your post)

Sevesteen, the cooking of stats on both sides of the issue, is very disturbing to me. One doesn't know what to believe. I've see the gun/crime stats cooked both ways, like, within the hour on the same subject. Knowing who to trust to be HONEST about the subject is half the battle...

And yeah, more cops ain't something any self-respecting hippie would want... I can envision cops in every school and drug arrests going up astronomically. What starts as something to prevent violence would get co-opted by the drug war when they saw the possible profit (from high fines and dope seizures).

I'm obviously biased, but I try very hard to be fair. I see the pro-gun side far more likely to point to outside sources and to fully explain their stats so others can check them. I also see us questioning and refuting false or misleading statements, even when those statements would support our side. Example--a famous trainer said that there were no mass school shootings before the Gun Free School act, gun bloggers quickly pointed out 3 priors.

I see far, far more deception on the anti-gun side. Anti-gun stats are rarely in a form where an outsider can review the data. Stats on safety and risk almost always mix criminals with the law abiding. Age related stats often talk about children "and teens"--because 18 and 19 year old gang members inflate the stats. Continuing to use Gun Violence as the only valid measure, not violence in general.

There is extraordinary ignorance by supposed professionals--US Rep. Carolyn McCarthy's famous video interview where she thinks a barrel shroud is the 'shoulder thing that goes up'. Joan Peterson started blogging and initially tried to hide her Brady Campaign board membership, who claims almost total ignorance about guns.

"Nobody said anything about a ban" over and over and over, often right after 'must restrict Assault Weapons'